Dollar advances following jobs data (MarketWatch) (03-02-2012)

NEW YORK — The dollar rose against the euro and gained versus other major currencies on Friday after the U.S. government said the economy added far more jobs last month than economists anticipated.

The ICE dollar index which measures the performance of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, rose to 79.271, from 79.010 in late North American trade Thursday. The dollar initially weakened after the Labor Department said the economy added 243,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment rate unexpectedly declined to 8.3%. Against the yen, the U.S. currency traded at ¥76.60, from ¥76.18 late Thursday.

The euro fell to $1.3083 versus $1.3165 before the data and $1.3138 Thursday.

The British pound fell to $1.5757, from $1.5799.

The Australian dollar turned up to $1.0730, from $1.0708 Thursday.

Source: MarketWatch